Props go to pianist Gloria Cheng for putting this program together in the first place; getting well-paid film composers to take time out to write abstract music was likely an arduous task. Montage is a collection of solo piano pieces by film composers, all of them famous and top-rank, and a couple, John Williams and Randy Newman, household names. All are recorded premieres, and all but Alexandre Desplat’s L’Etreinte were written for Cheng. None completely departs from his cinematic style, and none replicates it completely. The program, in fact, is organized more or less from least to most cinematic, although some might find Surface Tension by Don Davis (who wrote the score to The Matrix) the most modern. The two most accessible scores, as might be expected, are those by Williams and Newman, but it would be wrong to merely expect a reduction of some discarded film music. Each composer responded to the project with a rather personal essay; Newman takes as his subject the lineage of film music composers (Alfred, Emil, and Lionel) in his family, and Williams offers a still more original concept: imagined conversations among jazz musicians. The difficult modern scores are smoothly rendered by Cheng, who clearly had fun with the project. It’s a find for film music fans.

Randy Newman
Family Album: Homage to Alfred, Emil and Lionel Newman (2013)
13 I. The Follies: Young and Beautiful 02:16
14 II. Emil Teaches Sonja Henie How To Skate 02:01
15 III. Carmen Miranda: How Many Times Do I Have to Tell You I’m Not Mexican! 01:47
16 IV. Lionel Teaches Marilyn Monroe How To Sing 02:04
17 V. Outdoors But Not The Red River Valley 02:20